HSBC CEO Targets Asia, Middle East Growth After Revamp

Denise Wee and David Ingles

Tue, Mar 25, 2025, 4:39 AM 3 min read

(Bloomberg) -- HSBC Holdings Plc expects to double down on its investment-banking operations in Asia and the Middle East after exiting key businesses in Europe and the US, Chief Executive Officer Georges Elhedery said.

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The bank will focus on debt and other financing activities globally as well as mergers and acquisitions and equity capital markets in Asia and the Middle East, Elhedery said in a Bloomberg TV interview on Tuesday at an HSBC conference in Hong Kong. The restructuring will save $1.5 billion in efficiency costs and enable the bank to invest in areas where it has more competitive edge to generate “quality” revenue, he said.

Taking the helm more than six months ago, Elhedery has unleashed a sweeping overhaul at the bank, leading to the exit of several senior executives. He combined the commercial and investment banking units and made operations in the UK and Hong Kong standalone businesses. He shuttered most of its mergers and acquisition and equity underwriting operations in the US, UK and continental Europe.

“The exit that we are processing now in Europe and the Americas is to allow us to focus at the areas where we can really be differentiating to our customers,” said Elhedery, adding that debt, including debt capital markets, leverage and acquisition finance and other financing activities are at “the heart” of what the bank does globally.

The restructuring has been endorsed by top shareholder Ping An Insurance (Group) Co., which last week said it’s “very happy” with the direction, marking a dramatic shift in tone from its combative stance during a dispute with HSBC back in 2022.

Shares of the London-based lender have rallied almost 30% in Hong Kong since Elhedery took over on Sept. 2.

Rewarding

The CEO has been removing layers of management from the top down, cutting the number of executives who sit on the re-named key operating committee to 12 from 18. Job cuts across the bank have focused on senior managers, even placing some investment bankers on short-term work arrangements.

HSBC asked hundreds of managers to reapply for jobs in the firm’s newly formed corporate and institutional banking division. Several top executives, including Nuno Matos — who ran wealth and personal banking and was Elhedery’s main rival for the CEO role — have also exited.